Biggest loser work challenge results...

[addict]

Ok so in January a bunch of us at work decided we would do a biggest loser challenge. Each contestant ponied up 50 bucks, and we thought from initial indications of interest that we would have enough cash to pay out a 2nd and 3rd place as well as prizes for weekly loser. Yeah! But no, as you know, people talk a mean game but often thats as far as it goes -- we only ended up with 5 contestants, including me, our hero of the story. First place 200, 2nd place 50. Game on.

So, fine, we only had 5 players, but it was still interesting because each one of us chose a different diet approach. We had 12 weeks to test the mettle of the following dieting regimens:

JA (male): South Beach diet.
TD (male): used an I-phone applet called 'Lose It' which basically tracked calories and weight goals/bmi/etc ala fittday
LP (female): Weight Watchers points system
RO (male): (we're still trying to figure out what his diet was)
OC (Male, Hero) Atkins, starting weight of 215.5 and bmi of 32.something

Caveat: I am fully aware that the powers that be on adbb strongly endorse DANDR2002 as the reference to which we adhere, but I used the 72 copy. The only main difference came during the owling weeks when i added in the correct amount of net carb increase, but chose foods from what would considered as being on a higher rung. A couple of months into the diet it became a moot point- I was happy with my foods, and was well below my ccll. I wasnt going to force myself to eat berries and yogurts etc just to mix it up. I mostly stuck to my delicious chef salads, lauras lean beef burgers, all natural bacon and turkey. breakfast was egg beaters with yolk with cheddar cheese and 1 slice "the baker" low carb flax bread, which I highly recommend. The bread is unlike other flax breads in that it tastes like bread. Wait - that doesnt do it justice. It is s a DELICIOUS and hearty whole grain flax bread that restores a little sanity to an otherwise breadless existence. That, with some cream cheese or cottage cheese. Damn. Sorry, I digress... Anyway, now that the contest is over, I dont necessarily see a lot of change in my diet coming. Im happy with the foods im eating which is why ATKINS is so successful for so many who suspend disbelief long enough to look at the results.

Ok so speaking of results, Ill get to them in a second - first a word about exercise:

JA (male): South Beach - no apparant exercise plan
TD (male): 'Lose It' - at home exercise videos
LP (female): Weight Watchers - at home exercise, "punishing" workouts, supplements
RO (male): diet unknown, exercise unknown
OC (male, hero): elliptical machine religiously, supplements

more about our hero: Ok so the goal of the contest was to lose the greatest % of from their starting weight. Early on I decided that even though adding muscle made sense for maintaining long term fat loss, if this contest was to be won, I couldnt risk seeing if i could build enough muscle in 3 months to achieve my weight loss goal.

So cardio it was, and the elliptical seemed to agree with me the most. I tried to get in there 5-6 days a week. some days - most in the beginning- i could go an hour on a weight loss or an interval workout. I liked it because I always had a little extra something to give it at the end where I would otherwise burn out.

Following the advice of the book, and for various other reasons, my supplements consisted of multi, 2x E, 2x biotin, 2x selenium, 2x flax oil caps, 1000mg C, 2x chromium picolinate, 2x b6, 2xb complex, 2x L-glutamine, 4x green tea extract

I also drank about 8-10 cups of green tea a day... speaking of which, gotta pee... be right back...

better. Ok. one last word about calories - i kept em around 1400-1600 a day, tracked on fitday along with my weight, food, activities, and weight goal. at 1400-1600 I didnt feel like i was depriving myself of anything at all. Later on I added some low carb ice cream to the regimen and i was on cloud fricken 9. Add some macademia nuts to it! YUM! Sorry... gettin late, gettin silly... had a few 2000+ calorie nights like my birthday but in general i impressed even myself with my personal discipline. Cant say enough how having a little something extra on the line, like cash and glory, can motivate. You'd think NOT DYING FROM A HEART ATTACK would be enough. Separate discussion.

Ok, so finally, without further delay, the results:

Contestant Week #1 Week #2 Week #3 Week #4 Week #5 Week #6 Week #7 Week #8 Week #9 Week #10 Week #11 Week #12 Total
JA -2.23% -0.22% 0.22% 0.00% -0.45% -0.90% -0.68% 0.68% -1.38% 0.46% 0.68% -3.85%
LP -2.91% -2.32% 0.33% -2.36% 0.00% -1.72% -1.04% -0.35% -2.14% -0.36% -0.72% -0.36% -14.80%
OC -3.11% -2.20% -0.99% -1.00% -1.52% -1.02% -1.30% -1.05% -0.79% -1.61% -0.81% -0.27% -16.80%
RO -0.37% -2.08% -0.38% -0.19% -0.38% -0.19% 0.00% 0.57% -0.19% 0.00% 0.19% 0.00% -3.04%
TD -2.63% -0.80% -1.62% -1.37% -1.67% 0.55% -1.69% 0.00% -1.14% 1.12% -0.28% 0.56% -9.24%


Of interesting note, besides me winning 200 bucks by a 2% margin, and by dining lavishly on succulent foods, is that although from week to week, i was not necessarily the biggest % loser, my lead from the beginning was never surpassed. I came out running strong in front, and finished strong. That 200 prize money goes toward subsidizing my vitamins and gym costs for the last 3 months.

LP was happy with her results but laments from time to time about how much effort went in just to lose a half pound and thinks she is doomed to a given weight range. Whatever. She looks fantastic. You cant argue with her results either.

TD knew he was slipping about 2/3 of the way through and basically threw in the towel by giving up on the exercise. He met his personal goal and was happy with dropping 20. Who wouldnt.

JA - kept cheating on South Beach and never made it out of phase one because he kept having to start over on Day 1 after every weekend. I dont think he exercised, so even though he lost weight, and was happy with it, he stood no chance against the more competitive members of the group. They need to find a modified version of South beach that has beer in phase one.

RO - never could get anything to move one direction or another. I found out later that he is type 2 diabetic and all the more so I told him he should talk to his doc about a low carb approach to managing blood sugar but he insists that the huge bowl of oatmeal he eats in the morning is the complex carb variety. I wonder what kind of carbs make up an oatmeal stout?

In all, a tremendous effort on everyones part. The team lost 84.5 pounds. Of that I lost 31 pounds - 36.6% of the 5 member total and 16.8% of my own weight in 3 months! While this is a personal achievement and Im quite proud of it, its as much a validation of the Atkins nutritional approach. I am one lazy guy. A 'normal' diet and exercise regimen would have had and HAS had me couch bound with the chips in record time. The stunning results from week to week kept me motivated to keep it up. I feel great, and im in the best shape in 10 years. I cant wait to get my blood work redone. I will post those along with some before and after pics in the coming weeks.

Thanks for hanging in there for my long post and thanks for the input you guys have provided over the last couple of months on franken foods, protein breath, etc! Your posts of advise and encouragement continue to be tremendously insightful for us 90% lurkers

Vive La ADBB!!!

-Addict

[liv]

Nice story. And quite interesting too. I am so glad the Hero came out on top and that he is spending his winnings wisely. Motivation is a great thing.
Sounds like you are continuing on. Wonderful

[milfit77]

AWESOME! THANKS for posting.. interesting reading. Congratulations to you and your co-workers.what an accomplishment!

[sweethings]

Great story and fun to see how the others did on the other diets. It'd be fun to try this with my co-workers too but I know most would not commit when it came time. My question is: where can I get the flax seed bread recipe you mentioned? I've been experimenting with different flaxseed recipes and I'm close! I agree this the answer to bread. I can live with this!

Thank you for sharing!

[addict]

Hiya Sweethang!

I bought this bread- didn't make it. I did a little poking around, and it looks like Whole foods sells it for around 3.50 a loaf and i saw someone else saying Target sold it, believe it or not. Then i saw another post that said it may be exclusive to the northeast. I got it at a food co-op in Albany.

Ill check the bag tonight and if theres a website or anything helpful, ill add it to this thread.

Be mindful that their portion size is 1 oz and the carb content is 5 net grams per OZ. The center slices of the loaf are upwards of 1.75 Oz so this is OWL friendly but not induction friendly.

Happy Hunting!

[momtomany1]

I thoroughly enjoyed your story. Good going!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by addict

our hero of the story.

OUR hero! Congrats on being the biggest loser and for setting a great example to your coworkers

[blueberrylady]

Congratulations on an amazing loss! What a great story, thanks for sharing!

[addict]

thanks everyone for the kind words.

In case anyone cares, here is the corporate info for the best low carb bread that can be purchased:

http://www.the-baker.com

THE BAKER
PO Box 528
60 Bridge St
Milford, NJ 08848
908-995-4040

[addict]

nutritional info for the flax bread:

Serving Size 1 oz
Calories 50
Total Fat 1.00g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 90mg
Potassium 35mg
Total Carbohydrate 8g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Protein 5g